Shakespearean Feast

What better way to venerate the Bard than to throw a party in his honor!

Food makes any lesson more memorable. The end of a Shakespeare unit, Shakespeare's birthday (April 23rd), or the end of the academic term are all great occasions for an Elizabethan feast -- or as much of one as you care to create.

Below are links to an assortment of recipes for Elizabethan fare. Try printing out the recipes and asking for volunteer cooks (students or parents) to prepare each one. Students might also select Shakespearean verses appropriate to each dish, or even compose their own "Elizabethan" verses.

If you're looking for real authenticity, remember that:

Guests generally sat at benches; chairs were for the really important people. Common folk ate most food using wooden bowls & spoons.

Salt was highly prized, and usually resided at the head of the table. Hence the phrase "below the salt."

Forks weren't in common use. Fingers worked fine.

Meat was in short supply in common homes, whose inhabitants made do with grains and vegetables.

The nobility loved meat and sweets. When they got enough to eat, the lower classes may have had the more healthy diet. (Ask your students to compare Elizabethan fare to the things we're told are healthy today.)

If "close is good enough," try several of these contemporary recipes for dishes whose roots go back to Elizabethan days.

If you'd like to go straight to the source, the Medieval & Renaissance Food Page contains simple links to a variety of 15th century recipes. Most of these have been transcribed in their original form, so it can be tough to tell what and how much is supposed to go into the pot.